Workout of the Day:
“Grace”
135/85 lb. Clean and Jerk, 30 repetitions for time
Post time and load to comments.
The Bitter Truth On Splenda – Part 1
Written by Calvin Sun
Sucralose, better known by its brand name Splenda, has become one of the most popular sugar substitutes in our country. You can find it in several places, ranging from baked goods to diet sodas and even on the counter at your local coffee shop. I was recently having coffee when I overheard two ladies debating the use of Splenda sweetener as part of their nutritional regime. Apparently one of them had recently adopted a “points based” weight loss program that promoted use of artificial sweeteners. She argued that Splenda was a choice product because of its null caloric content and she claimed it was safe because it was an “all-natural” product. I frequently hear similar sentiments whenever I consult clients on their nutrition:
“It has no calories, so it will help me lose fat”
Not exactly, in fact it does the exact opposite. Several studies conducted in recent years have found that consumption of artificial sweeteners can actually contribute to weight gain, metabolic syndrome, and increased risk for heart disease and diabetes. Purdue University conducted a study that found that consumption of artificial sweetener actually led to greater weight gain than those who consumed regular sugar (Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience). While Splenda contains no calories it can still elicit the same insulinogenic response triggered by sugar. When a sweet-tasting substance hits your tongue, a physiological response triggers the pancreas to release insulin into the blood stream for the expected increase in blood sugar. Without the calories the body expects, you remain hungry and become predisposed to overeating at your next meal.
Very interesting. Several people I know–both friends and family–swear by artificial sweeteners: splenda, aspartame, whatever. They truly believe that because it’s artificial and that there is no caloric value, they can, in fact, use more of it. It’s pretty scary that despite having no calories up front, an insulin response is still elicited. I guess it goes to show that there really is no such thing as a free lunch.
Cal,
I use Stevia sometimes. It’s supposedly a natural sweetening alternative, but would it also stimulate an undesirable insulin response?
BC
BC,
It will still elicit an insulin response thereby decreasing insulin sensitivity and increasing glucose intolerance. Compared to Splenda, Stevia can be considered the lesser of two evils. In part 2, I’ll discuss some research that has shown Splenda has more negative side effects that we had previously thought.
What a great WOD today! It is so motivating to see everyone early in the AM. Dani brought lots of enthusiasm to 6 AM (or 0600 for you military type) but I am not sure if that is her normal cheery self or the gallon of coffee she had prior to class.
Was able to complete the 1st 10 at 125 but then had to scale to 115 in order to complete the remaining 20 reps. Overall time, 11:32. Will definately need to work on these.
CFI, you have BY FAR the best facility & trainers in the country. You guys are the standard by which all CF’s will be compared. I am very excited to be part of your community.
0600 crew rocked it today! Very cool to see such a large and enthusiastic group at such an early hour. It looks like the 0600 already has some seriously committed athletes!
Nice job to my buddy Wink for hitting this girl up with the rx’d weight! Big Bad Ken, you are a stellar athlete! From what I’ve seen over the months, you continually improve and excel at each WOD. Knowing your desire to progress and commitment to CF, you’ll be up there with your overhead weight in no time.
My first “named” WOD at CFI and I was stoked set a PR of 7:35 (doing this w/ 135#s was the bigger breakthrough). Anyone who’s just starting this CF stuff should be encouraged; I could only get 125#s overhead for three reps as recently as last September.
Thanks to Mark for teaching me some great flexibility drills (to help improve my Bee Charming squattaage)
Hope everyone has an “Invictorating” day!
BC out……
Great post Cal. And fantastic work by the 6 a.m. crew. Everyone had stellar form and put forth solid effort.
And Ken, I believe my enthusiasm was a combination of coffee and excitement to be coaching again, surrounded by amazing athletes in a beautiful facility. Still have a smile on my face.
So happy CFI is open. I hope everyone has a great day.
Dantelope out-
BC Awesome job brother! I know I am repeating myself but does CFI make everyone do the full squat clean in Grace, or are we doign overhead anyhow? Just want to know before I hit this one up later on today. Wink, sounds like you are ripping it up, just don’t let CJ make you do too many Dynamax advertising laps, it might mess with your POSEing!
POS, first and most importantly WE MISS YOU. Seriously when are you just going to throw in the towel and come home (SD is your home).
As for Grace, at 6 a.m. we did ground to overhead anyhow.
Great post, Calvin. I think it’s fascinating to think that the presence of sweet taste alone could illicit a pancreatic response, though I guess it’s not that far-fetched if you think of the salivary response of Pavlov’s dog.
I think it’s general good practice to ingest as few strange sounding chemicals as possible, and these studies and others seem to reiterate that. I rarely use Splenda or other sweeteners, but before you go out and replace all of the artificial ones with regular table sugar in an effort to avoid suddenly becoming obese, consider a few things. After reading the abstract and summaries of the study, two things stick out to me: the subjects of the study and how much Splenda they were consuming. Rats were fed Splenda for 12-week periods and examined for several effects such as intestinal flora and fecal pH (eww). For an average 180 pound human, you would consume somewhere between 8 and 80 yellow packets a day. Do humans respond the same as rats? Do you eat that much Splenda every day?
I think the best approach is like our black box concept we use in CrossFit: take in and consider all you can, consider some experimentation for yourself, and reach your own conclusion. I’m not endorsing Splenda by any means, I’m just being the skeptic I’ve always been.
Well, I had a bunch of hyperlinks, but apparently they didn’t come out. I’m listing the abstract as the ‘website’ spot to see if it works.
And if you click my name this time, you’ll get some other article summaries. Enjoy!
Dani, thanks that is one warm smile on a day where the wind chill is 20 degrees. I might have to give SD a trial run this summer for a month or so. Thanks for the WOD clairification, I am a fan of the overhead anyhow. Will post how it goes.
Outstanding 6:00 am class this morning, Dani you are the bomb girl.
First time for me doing Grace, and now that I’ve got a feel for it will jack up the intensity next time she comes around. 10:28 as RX’d.
BC, you killed this one dude! You turned around and asked, ‘You’re on 15 too right?’ – Me: ‘Uhhhh 10…’ stellar work man!
Ken, great to see you at 6:00 am, changing it up from 9:00 am can only be a good thing.
POS, we totally were running billboards that day! CJ might just be a viral marketing genius! Oh and seriously, it muuuuuch nicer to work out inside Invictus than outside.
Cal, couldn’t agree more. Mark knows my opinion on Splenda (that its the worst of the artificial sweeteners), do a bit of searching on Splenda allergies etc. Also, Mark you should find the research where they did testing on rats using Saccarin (Nutrasweet) – the study was adjusted to compensate for the BM of a rat vs human and equaled less than what you would receive in several cans of diet soda per day. The problems that the rats displayed typically only appeared within the last 10-30% of their lifespan.
Awesome work this morning! Dani – stellar job on the training, and thanks for the tips on my hunchback…stretching my arms at work is so helpful, although everyone else is weirded out by it.
I was so honored to do the workout at Invictus this morning with everyone. Not only is the gym amazing, the motivation everyone brought rocked. Ken, having you in front of me was an inspiriation, nice work today. Thanks for letting me come and work out with you guys, I will be there full timing it in Feb.
Bring on the PR’s in 09!!
Ali H.
Calvin and Mark: I hope you both do lots of blogging and share your vast knowledge with the CFI community. It is great to learn something new every day, especially when it is from people who have the ability to cut through the BS that the mainstream feeds us. I also think it would be great to see a little Pro vs. Con arguments coming from the staff, even if it means someone has to just play devil’s advocate.
Grace: 3:05 RX’d
Holy ‘Grace’ Batman! POS, thats elite, keep on pushing! Next time with 155# or what?
Wayne… I read Calvin’s Bio and I got inspired. As for that 155# been there with you in fact, not the same if there isn’t a hot dusty dog pit with Mark killing it next to you! But I will take that suggestion to heart for the next time this pretty lady shows up.
POS, next time it’s one-arm Grace.
Just wanted to put in my two cents for the 9:30 crew, everyone did such a great job this morning. It was so much fun to be with my 9am ladies (plus a few wonderful new additions) at CFI. There is one person however I am missing…Ken don’t make me chase you down!!
Double WHOOT to everyone at the 9:30 class today!
Many-a-milestone reached as Rhonda Row Queen RAN 800 meters!!!
Karen & Kate nearly mastered clean & jerks ON THEIR FIRST DAY CROSSFITTING!
Timmy G, Linda & Dee are all back in action!!
And, Baby Karis Sack of Flour made her great escape from the kiddie pin. The only reason we knew in time to stop her from running to the gelato bar was due to the squeaky pink shoes she wears!! (I’m still waiting to see the pic of her w/ a fistful of peanut butter).
Ken…..don’t make me join Court in the chase.